Fatal Mistakes IT Professionals Make While Transitioning Between Teams

By KnowledgeHut

In this day it’s very common for companies to shuffle teams and move around people depending on where they are needed or where the company is shorthanded. And one of the major challenges faced is that of effective team building. While the companies face the challenge of team building, the individuals have their own issues to deal with - fitting in.The first and second impressionIt’s often the toughest part, isn’t it? With regular transitions happening, it often a struggle between trying to form a good impression vs not trying at all because you’re going to move on sooner or later. But it is vital to develop a healthy first impression and make fitting in that much simpler. While the first impression is the easiest to form, the second impression takes longer to form, and it is the one that’s going to affect your relationships with your teammates in the long run. The easiest, most painless way out of this is to be confident and be yourself, all the time. At this point, it is important to remember that you do not have to worry about being judged. By simply being yourself your teammates develop a sense of confidence in who you are, and it plays a key role in developing a level of trust required for the smooth functioning of the team.Being someone other than yourself, boasting and outright lying to nail those perfect first impressions is a terrible, terrible thing to do and wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run. Imagine telling your teammates that you were rowing champion, and during a team building sessions in the great outdoors, you find yourself stuck in the middle of the river on a boat. It would probably not be the ideal time to let them know that you weren’t one, would it?The luggageAnother thing that can ruin your experience, as well as your teammates’, is by bringing up your previous team and experience a little too often. People switching between teams often carry their experience with their previous team, good or bad, into the new one. “That’s not how we used to do it back then, back there” isn’t probably the right thing to bring up when you don't like the way something is done or have a way you think is better. It shows a lack of respect for your current teammates and might even come out as outright snobbish.And it’s not a matter of saying things, but also just having it on the back of your mind. It is going to constantly cause you to make unnecessary comparisons and lead to a lot of frustrations resulting in a drop in your effectiveness. Advice: always keep an open mind, take some time to understand the dynamics of the team and have faith in your current team. If you think your old team’s practices can yield a better result, politely suggest that you try it.Don’t be quick to judgeApart from creating an impression another thing you could do is jump to conclusions regarding your teammates. People are always looking to form an opinion, and we are no different, and that is often the reason why first impressions are the easiest to make. And while, it’s not wrong to have one about your teammates, the key thing is to try and not stick to it. You need to remember that all people are all unique, different and beautiful in their own ways and sometimes it requires a little bit of time to understand them. Also, if you see that someone is an introvert, try and bring them into the conversation as much as possible. While you might not have that issue with an extrovert, it’s important to make sure that you hold them accountable and ‘walk the talk’.It might all sound a little complex, but it’s simple really - don’t be quick to judge people, avoid having any preconceived notions and biases, be more empathetic and accommodating of all kinds of people.Lack of communication and relationship buildingOne mistake we all do in our professional life is that we hear but don’t listen. Many of the projects are time oriented, and people are more invested in the project itself and not the people. This creates a communication gap and affects the overall performance of the team.Know your teammatesSo it’s important to take some time to know your teammates; you don’t need to know them inside out, like know their favourite colour or their stance on the current politics of the world. But more in terms of where they are coming from, where their expertise lays et al. This will make it easier to communicate to your teammates and more importantly, get your point across.Dealing with issuesThere are going to be issues and situations that you are not comfortable with. Many people shrug it off saying that it's part of the switch. While it may be partially true, it’s always good to bring it up to the team leader and see if it can be sorted out. Discomfort can lead to frustrations and reduction of effectiveness and to even further frustration. Never keep your troubles to yourself as much as possible. Instead, talk to your teammates and/or team leader about it and look for ways to alleviate the root cause of it.Embrace learning, every time, every dayWhile transitions often happen on the basis of expertise, it might not always be the case. Often, you might find yourself facing hurdles and coming across areas you might not be particularly good at. However, instead of pushing it away, try and give it a shot and sometimes, you might even realise that you are good at it and maybe even like it. In this day and age, it’s absolutely vital to developing your skill set to remain relevant in your field. By actually trying to do something outside of your comfort zone, you can probably learn more than actually going for a course for it on a later date. You can even join courses on your related fields to develop a more profound level of understanding about your field and approach problems from different perspectives.Work as a unitA successful project depends on the individuals working on it and how they perform as a cohesive unit. With the current trend of short term, project-oriented teams and transitions between them, it’s become more and more important to develop your people skills to keep up with it. The above guide only offers an overview of what you can do and is not a definitive list of what you should. The most important thing is to be true to yourself and above all keep your mind open to everything you might have to face. After all, every experience you face in every team and every project makes you a little wiser.

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Fatal Mistakes IT Professionals Make While Transitioning Between Teams

By KnowledgeHut

In this day it’s very common for companies to shuffle teams and move around people depending on where they are needed or where the company is shorthanded. And one of the major challenges faced is that of effective team building. While the companies face the challenge of team building, the individuals have their own issues to deal with - fitting in.The first and second impressionIt’s often the toughest part, isn’t it? With regular transitions happening, it often a struggle between trying to form a good impression vs not trying at all because you’re going to move on sooner or later. But it is vital to develop a healthy first impression and make fitting in that much simpler. While the first impression is the easiest to form, the second impression takes longer to form, and it is the one that’s going to affect your relationships with your teammates in the long run. The easiest, most painless way out of this is to be confident and be yourself, all the time. At this point, it is important to remember that you do not have to worry about being judged. By simply being yourself your teammates develop a sense of confidence in who you are, and it plays a key role in developing a level of trust required for the smooth functioning of the team.Being someone other than yourself, boasting and outright lying to nail those perfect first impressions is a terrible, terrible thing to do and wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run. Imagine telling your teammates that you were rowing champion, and during a team building sessions in the great outdoors, you find yourself stuck in the middle of the river on a boat. It would probably not be the ideal time to let them know that you weren’t one, would it?The luggageAnother thing that can ruin your experience, as well as your teammates’, is by bringing up your previous team and experience a little too often. People switching between teams often carry their experience with their previous team, good or bad, into the new one. “That’s not how we used to do it back then, back there” isn’t probably the right thing to bring up when you don't like the way something is done or have a way you think is better. It shows a lack of respect for your current teammates and might even come out as outright snobbish.And it’s not a matter of saying things, but also just having it on the back of your mind. It is going to constantly cause you to make unnecessary comparisons and lead to a lot of frustrations resulting in a drop in your effectiveness. Advice: always keep an open mind, take some time to understand the dynamics of the team and have faith in your current team. If you think your old team’s practices can yield a better result, politely suggest that you try it.Don’t be quick to judgeApart from creating an impression another thing you could do is jump to conclusions regarding your teammates. People are always looking to form an opinion, and we are no different, and that is often the reason why first impressions are the easiest to make. And while, it’s not wrong to have one about your teammates, the key thing is to try and not stick to it. You need to remember that all people are all unique, different and beautiful in their own ways and sometimes it requires a little bit of time to understand them. Also, if you see that someone is an introvert, try and bring them into the conversation as much as possible. While you might not have that issue with an extrovert, it’s important to make sure that you hold them accountable and ‘walk the talk’.It might all sound a little complex, but it’s simple really - don’t be quick to judge people, avoid having any preconceived notions and biases, be more empathetic and accommodating of all kinds of people.Lack of communication and relationship buildingOne mistake we all do in our professional life is that we hear but don’t listen. Many of the projects are time oriented, and people are more invested in the project itself and not the people. This creates a communication gap and affects the overall performance of the team.Know your teammatesSo it’s important to take some time to know your teammates; you don’t need to know them inside out, like know their favourite colour or their stance on the current politics of the world. But more in terms of where they are coming from, where their expertise lays et al. This will make it easier to communicate to your teammates and more importantly, get your point across.Dealing with issuesThere are going to be issues and situations that you are not comfortable with. Many people shrug it off saying that it's part of the switch. While it may be partially true, it’s always good to bring it up to the team leader and see if it can be sorted out. Discomfort can lead to frustrations and reduction of effectiveness and to even further frustration. Never keep your troubles to yourself as much as possible. Instead, talk to your teammates and/or team leader about it and look for ways to alleviate the root cause of it.Embrace learning, every time, every dayWhile transitions often happen on the basis of expertise, it might not always be the case. Often, you might find yourself facing hurdles and coming across areas you might not be particularly good at. However, instead of pushing it away, try and give it a shot and sometimes, you might even realise that you are good at it and maybe even like it. In this day and age, it’s absolutely vital to developing your skill set to remain relevant in your field. By actually trying to do something outside of your comfort zone, you can probably learn more than actually going for a course for it on a later date. You can even join courses on your related fields to develop a more profound level of understanding about your field and approach problems from different perspectives.Work as a unitA successful project depends on the individuals working on it and how they perform as a cohesive unit. With the current trend of short term, project-oriented teams and transitions between them, it’s become more and more important to develop your people skills to keep up with it. The above guide only offers an overview of what you can do and is not a definitive list of what you should. The most important thing is to be true to yourself and above all keep your mind open to everything you might have to face. After all, every experience you face in every team and every project makes you a little wiser.

Why Working Remotely is an Issue with IT Managers?

By KnowledgeHut

The work scenario today is stretching workplace flexibilities to accommodate the needs of professionals. Globally stationed offices have also made extending flexible workplaces a norm. Working remotely is the new trend that is transcending industries. While working remotely comes with its own set of benefits, it isn’t well-suited for some industries or professions. IT managers are often bound by limitations and reach a wall with remote working environments.What is working remotely?The WeWorks and other shared working spaces of the world are cropping up in numerous places to cater to the rising need of professionals who work remotely. Essentially, these professionals, from various industries, do not need to go to a specific office location or work for an overseas company or have opted to work from home temporarily. Most professionals, however, choose to work out of their own homes while they work remotely. For an employee, it is the most relaxing and flexible way of working. While working remotely is beneficial with benefits such as increased employee productivity, satisfaction levels and is known to increase the company income it also comes with a few challenges to the IT managers. Here are the six common challenges for getting work done remotely:1. Communication in Virtual Teams:Almost all issues are due to lack of communication, especially with management. Though in this era of high-speed internet, messages reach faster than a phone call, response and communication rely on the human counterpart. The manager has to be skilled and extremely nifty to communicate a strategy to the team in a way that is easily understandable by the team located at different locations. The manager should also be able to get updates as to what is happening in the team while working remotely. Often, this is where an out of sight team can be difficult to handle, as there is no effective way to monitor work is being done.A problem for IT managersIt can be a stumbling block for many IT managers which is why remote work becomes an issue with them. When communication fails, a number of problems arrive. Progress of work suffers, and employees feel isolated, eventually lowering their morale. Getting everyone on board to attend an online meeting may be quite a task owing to different timelines and availability, ultimately hampering efficiency if things don’t align.Solutions:Using communication tools with better technologies like instant messengers, chat windows etcKeep such windows always open on your desktop or set a pop-up or sound alertWhile allocating a project to remote teams, clear all possible doubts and make sure there is little space for any confusions2. Managing backlogs/difficulties: Even though working with remote teams increase productivity, managers should have the capability to handle backlogs. Backlogs are a hurdle during a project, and if not cleared in the beginning they can risk the entire project. Backlogs have to be managed by repeated discussions which are termed difficult while working remotely, especially when people are working in different time zones. If all the employees are in the same region, then it is easy to communicate and manage. But in case of remote employees where the team is spread globally in different geographical regions then one has to take time out for the other based on each other’s time zone which is a hurdle. This is a tougher way of coordinating. Also, it is difficult to keep track of whether each team member is logging in regularly as scheduled or not. For instance, if you are waiting for a response to a crucial email and the team member has logged out, it increases downtime and in turn, affects productivity.Solutions:While scheduling a meeting, choose a time which is feasible for all the team membersIf everyone cannot attend then record the meeting and share it later so that everyone knows what has been discussedUse software which helps schedule meetings by considering each one’s choice3. Communicative language and cultural issues: This is again an issue related to dealing with a workforce which is globally diverse. There are cultural barriers, different work cultures and culturally dictated holidays. This can be a challenge to while effecting uniform work culture. Also, issues with language, interpretations, and communication with global teams is a pressing issue. The differences impact how the team communicates and how information is transferred and received. When there is a gap in this, the manager will have to work twice as hard to get the team on the same page, increasing the time spent and lowering overall productivity.Solutions:As part of team-building talk to employees and share their cultures and activities so that everyone knows a little about the teamIf you meet someone with the same cultural background, bonding can also improve which will together increase productivity 4. Tracking remote employee performances: The basic task of a manager is to ensure that all employees accomplish all their duties in the stipulated time efficiently and by maintaining the company’s standards. This becomes tedious for managers when it is a remote team. For an employee, it is just finishing the work on time, but the other aspects such as quality and standards matter a lot as well. Some work only a set number of working hours, so reaching out in time for changes may not be possible. In both cases, it reduces productivity and managers have to follow up with employees virtually to get the task done in the right manner and within the right time frame. This is one of the greatest challenges to a leader. A manager can never know how much time the employee has spent on effective work.SolutionsIt is important to have a system in place which will ensure proper communication between the team, the customer and the managersWhen managers have control over the team irrespective of the time spent, rules work betterMake use of employee productivity software which will let managers know what exactly a remote employee is doing5. Lack of trust and understanding with the team: Meeting and greeting each other at an office set-up builds a sort of bonding and trust between people. It is human nature. While in a remote team, this type of bonding and trust doesn’t exist. For a usual team at a physical office two things are important:Team building for which the base is trust and bondingGiving freedom and space to workNever happens in a remote teamIn a remote team, the above is never accomplished, and functioning of the team without an understanding is tough. The manager has to get adjust to each member’s work pace and style and ensure that the whole project comes together without loopholes. This can be difficult when the team is not in tune with each other.Solutions:Giving timely feedback to employeesScheduling video conferencesMaking use of time tracking software6. Handling Conflicts: Conflicts are common in any kind of team. Physical or remote, a team has conflicts because of the errors, backlogs, communication mistakes etc. A team and managers have to handle such conflicts, but it is a tough job to handle remote conflicts. Coordination and understanding may not always be possible without physical presence. And miscommunication and incorrect interpretations are common over virtual communication platforms, making resolving conflicts a huge task for IT managers.Solutions:Lay down an agendaMention the problem clearly and be transparentCreate a plan to handle hurdlesRegularly check for progressIT managers who work remotely, with a remote team have many challenges to brave. Most of these are taxing and can take up quite a lot of time and effort on the part of the manager. However, with the right tools and good agile practices, it can be easier for managers to get their team on board and sift through projects while keeping productivity intact.